Wednesday, 24 August 2011

Fall of a regime - Live on TV

In the last few days we had the opportunity to observe the final surge of the Libyan rebels towards the capital, Tripoli. Some of us may agree or disagree with such action but the bottom line is the Gaddafi regime appears to have ended. Like other regimes built on fear and oppression, it crumbled at a double quick time when the fake support from the people was ultimately unveiled.

The reputation of Gaddafi as somebody who opposes the West is well recorded. Not until when he decided to join the "was against terrorism" he was considered a terrorist himself. With his iron grip over most everything in Libya, his was very powerful. As in many other placed, a concentrated power would certainly lead towards abuses and cronyism.

Do doubt the success of the rebellion or revolution, depending where your view comes from, was assisted by NATO who had been bombing the Gaddafi regime to "protect civilians" even until the dying days of the regime. Suddenly, an organisaton which acronym is synonymous with No Action Talk Only was very active militarily. I suppose the proximity of Libya to Europe and how much Libyan oil is consumed there were among the factors which motivated NATO to protect Libyans.

Well, we are in the Web 2.0 era where information flows at the speed faster that we could have imagine even 5 years ago. The inter-connectivity of people through various platforms and devices make censorship very archaic. There are still places where the official line is out of line with reality, as what we heard from Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi's heir apparent. Even when the whole world knows the opposite, we was still adamant that they were in charge. Perhaps, this is one of the traits of any dictator, blinded from reality because of the power held.

Looks like to avoid another Libya, citizens much ensure strong check and balance exist in the society to prevent any leader to grow into a monster which has no problem in abusing the power entrusted in him. Yes, ultimately we need to trust somebody. However, the trust must be complimented with effective institutions which are loyal to truth, justice and ultimately the people, you and me.